The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1887-03-16
President Turner'S Statement In Regard I
the Affair.

tiio "inpa'cues III 4uesuon having Deon
published In tho Wheeling papers and
having. therefore a wide publicity in the
State. 1t seems to be my duty, in order
that the public may know tho iacts upon
which tho action Of the Faculty was based,
10 make q statement OF the evidence, For
many yeafai 1t has been more or less acus.
tom among the studeuto here, "a 1t Ia to
some extent, perhaps, in most colleges, to
cheat in examinations. This js done by
writing out portions OF the subject OF e1.
%Sminatiops aud bringing them into the
room to be used, II necessary; and also
by the practics OF copying by ono student
from the answers OF smother student. To
such an extent have these practices been
carried here, that some OF the best stu.
dents have complained OF it rs being a
disgrace to the institution. Iu former
ycaro q student was occasionally detected
In this dishonest b~usiuesa, but the punish.
iuent Inflicted appeared to DO INADEQUATE
10 break up the practice.
At meeting Of the Faculty, held lust
prior to tue examinations last autumn.
this whole subject Was fully discussed,
and active measures were determined on.
In order, III possible, 10 uproot this evil.
When tho time catne to announce tho
schedule Tor examinations / took special
pains to make an official public statement
to the young men OF the action OF the
Faculty, aud Of our intention to nut astop
10 this practice, if possible. They were
a!ho informed, in words as plain as Ian
guage could make them, that all students
who should be detected in using unfair
means to pass their examinations, would
be severely dealt With.
The Fall examinations proceeded, and,
30 far as ia known by the Faculty. we're
fairly passed. At any rate, 70 instances
Of chesting came to on, knowledge, The
resnlt wssn lower average standing than
had heretofore been made.
The.examinations for the Winter term
have just been completed. Five etudepts
have, thna lar, been detected in cheat
Ing. Two OF these were in 4 c!ass in
Latin, two in English Literature, and one
in mathematics. The evidence in easb
OF these cases wns such rs to convince
every member OF tho Faculty present Of
the guilt OF these who we're suspended.
In three OF these casea tbs offence consist.
ed in tho copying, by i student, OF the
answers written by another 10 the ques.
tons propounded for examination. They
were suspended until the next Winter
term.
In the case CT the fourth, the oEense
WAC bringing into the examination room a
written outline Of the subject Tor a mart
Of III, and using 1t to arswer the questions.
This young man fully acknowledged the
facts, and further stated, in answer to a
question, that he would "rather cheat anu
succeed Mdn to be honest ind Jiai2." Ito was
suspended for u year. The fifth man
copied from the fourth a part Of his
answe1o and ALSO ackno uledgsd that he
had in HE pocket s written memorandum
OF a part OF tho term work, which was not,
however, included in the examination
questions. He was suspended until the
next winter term.
The evidence In tho cthar cases WAS az
follows: 1t was found in the pspers CT
three members OF the intermediate Ls!iu
clMse, that the translation from Ensliah
Into Latin (calIed the Latin ezercise) was,
with the exception Of ona word, identical.
Now this would not bs surprising had
they all been correct though even 10 such
g case it would be quite probable that
they might no. ell use tho same Latin
word for q given English word. But the
mistakes were identical in these papers,
with the exception stated, and wers diff
lcrent from thesa Of any other paper in
the cls7s. Two OF the Inietskes consisted
in using words, one Of which is not 8
Latin word st all, namely, "quasum" (uacd
for quarum); and the other, "piclu" fused
Tor p!c.ae), which 10 not Latin word in
tho sense in which it was used. In the
word quasum, one OF the papers used the
proper word, quarum. The other four
mistakes were alike. Il is conceivable
that two mon might make the game mis-.
take in getting the wrong infection OF a
noun or adjective, Or the wrong ending Of
a verb, with perfect honesty; hut tt ia
hardly conceivable that three men would
make tie same blunier in the same exam
nation, of using q word which ia not a
Latin word in the connection in which 1t
ia used and could have no ineligible
mesning. These three men sat near each
other on tho examination, one OF them OIL
q chair in the rear Of ono and TO the side
rear Of tho other.
It was Impossible to tell, from the pa.
pefs, who did the copying, except by in
ference. They were called before the
Faculty and their several ststements were
taken. The man who sat in tho chair tes.
tilted that he wrote his "exercise" fret,
and placed tho paper on the laor near
him. The other two testified that they
wrote the translation from Latin into Eng.
lish first, and wrote the exercise after wsrd.
This created q presumption in favor Of the
man who sat in the chair. 1t was claimed,
however, that the mistakes we're due to the
fact that tho "exercisss" had not bocn
properly corrected during term time. The
exercise books were produced, and upon
examination Of them 1t turned opt that
none Of their books correspondent to their
papers. The books contained the exercis.
"a correctly written, es they had been cor
rectel by tho Professor during term time.
But it was observed that stteupts had
been made to tsmper with two Of thsso
books by changing the word ricti, in the
books, to rictu, to make it correspond to
the examination paper. Ia both books
the paper had been scratched, showing an
attempt at erasure, and in one OF them the
do. over the i had been erased, showipga
thin piacs in the paper and a dirty finger
had been rubbed over it to make It PIE.
aent q uniform appearance. In tho Other
books clumsy attempt had been made to
change the | into II, and to erase the dot
over the | by making a large mark as If 1t
were only q blot. The book of the third
man (who occupied the chair) showed no
tfscea of any attempt 10 change the record.
The Faculty wore unanimous in their do.
Gleion that the men whose books had been
tampered with were the parties who bad
copied. nm
In the case OF the other lstu5ents sus-
pended for cheating in the examination
in Junior mathematics, the evidence was
ns follows:
The paper Of this student and that Of
another student were almost identities. in
Language. Only here and there was a
change, Of q word or clause, and in these
cases OF difference there was no ensential